I don't know if this was posted earlier. I was thinking about Torts being fined again because he called out the Pens & there players. To all those who think that the Pens aren't favored you need not look further than the San Jose Joe Thornton incient when Tort's called Thornton out early in the season stating that he has never won anything & might have called him a whiner to.

There was no fine in this instance. The leauge really needs to take a step back & reliaze that while they kiss Marios ring at every twist & turn they are alienating 29 other teams, & the teams & fans are fed up with the BS.

I don't know if this was posted earlier. I was thinking about Torts being finbed again because he called out the Pens & there players. To all those who think that the Pens aren't favored you need not look further than the San Jose Joe Thornton incient when Tort's called Thornton out early in the season stating that he has never won anything & might have called him a whiner to.

There was no fine in this instance. The leauge really needs to take a step back & reliaze that while they kiss Marios ring at every twist & turn they are alienating 29 other teams, & the teams & fans are fed up with the BS.

On Thursday, Crosby was once again bearing the brunt of an attack, this one from New York Rangers coach John Tortorella following a game that saw Rangers forward Derek Stepan absorb a knee-to-knee hit from Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik.

"I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars? Wonder what would happen?" Tortorella said, referring to Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. "So I'm anxious to see what happens with the League. There's no respect amongst players. None."

Bettman said Tortorella's comments come with the territory of Crosby being one of the game's biggest stars.

"The level of passion, emotion and gamesmanship can never be overestimated," Bettman said. "I think people who follow the game closely understand it's just noise. My guess is, Sidney Crosby is still the most popular player and has legions of fans in all ages in multiple countries. The fact that somebody might take a potshot, I guess, is the price of greatness."

On Thursday, Crosby was once again bearing the brunt of an attack, this one from New York Rangers coach John Tortorella following a game that saw Rangers forward Derek Stepan absorb a knee-to-knee hit from Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik.

"I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars? Wonder what would happen?" Tortorella said, referring to Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. "So I'm anxious to see what happens with the League. There's no respect amongst players. None."

Bettman said Tortorella's comments come with the territory of Crosby being one of the game's biggest stars.

"The level of passion, emotion and gamesmanship can never be overestimated," Bettman said. "I think people who follow the game closely understand it's just noise. My guess is, Sidney Crosby is still the most popular player and has legions of fans in all ages in multiple countries. The fact that somebody might take a potshot, I guess, is the price of greatness."

On Thursday, Crosby was once again bearing the brunt of an attack, this one from New York Rangers coach John Tortorella following a game that saw Rangers forward Derek Stepan absorb a knee-to-knee hit from Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik.

"I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars? Wonder what would happen?" Tortorella said, referring to Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. "So I'm anxious to see what happens with the League. There's no respect amongst players. None."

Bettman said Tortorella's comments come with the territory of Crosby being one of the game's biggest stars.

"The level of passion, emotion and gamesmanship can never be overestimated," Bettman said. "I think people who follow the game closely understand it's just noise. My guess is, Sidney Crosby is still the most popular player and has legions of fans in all ages in multiple countries. The fact that somebody might take a potshot, I guess, is the price of greatness."

Bettman still doesn't get it. I doubt somebody would have taken a potshot at Stamkos. People aren't criticizing Sid just because he is great, nor because he is "popular" (and if the NHL marketing department actually did some research, they would realize that Crosby is not so popular amongst legions of diehard fans).

That's a bunch of made up ********. Torts has dropped f bombs in numerous interviews before and hasn't been fined. If he said the same about any other team, he'd be wrong in saying it, but he'd also have his 20K still with him.

I believe all the NHL said was the fine was levied because of "the language used" or something like that. Very vague. Could have been because of the F-bombs, or could've been because of his message.

As a Ranger fan, Im not afraid to admit Im a little put-off that my head coach has accused the NHL of fixing games twice in the last three months.

Hes led the team to a great season though, so it doesnt bother me too much. If you cant see how that would bother the NHL, then I dont know what to tell you.

I believe all the NHL said was the fine was levied because of "the language used" or something like that. Very vague. Could have been because of the F-bombs, or could've been because of his message.

As a Ranger fan, Im not afraid to admit Im a little put-off that my head coach has accused the NHL of fixing games twice in the last three months.

Hes led the team to a great season though, so it doesnt bother me too much. If you cant see how that would bother the NHL, then I dont know what to tell you.

He didn't say anything about the refs after the Orpik accident. Boo hoo. Torts said that Cindy's a whiner. That's why he got fined. And he was correct in calling the Penguins an arrogant organization. After the Isles game last year, Lemieux writes a letter to the NHL on the Pens site calling out the league for not taking those cheap shots out of the game, yet he employs the biggest cheapshotter of them all in Matt Cooke.

Sorry,if I'm late to the party (vacation) with this one but to me the answer is clear as to why Torts was given a 20k fine.

Mario had to get his perm done, and Cyndi needed to get his nails done to look good for the playoffs. Since Pitt is broke why not have Johnnie T. finance this extravagant splurge before they are on their network Nothing But Crosby.

I thought this was big news and it would just get lost in pretty old thread about the fine. If mods want to put it there I get it, but I think a lot of people would miss it. And this is more about Bettman then the fine.

So Cindy's uncle Gary went on Francesa (I guess hoping to get a soft interview since Francesa knows nothing about hockey) and I'm trying to find the audio but snyrangersblog has a recap and they report that, "Gary Bettman says that he fined John Tortorella because he cursed four times. He wasn’t fined because of the comments he made about the Pens." And, "Bettman says that Torts is a great guy and professional coach and that when he is in a media setting like that he shouldn’t curse."

So with that as the reason this looks even more absurd. What, is four the magic number or something? Torts often curses in these things. And how about you talk to the man first before taking 20,000 dollars from him about something so stupid.

"Of course giving Sather cap space is like giving teenagers whiskey and car keys." - SBOB"Watching Sather build a team is like watching a blind man with no fingers trying to put together an elaborate puzzle." - Shadowtron
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"It’s a cheap, dirty hit. I wonder what would happen if we did it to their two whining stars over there. I wonder what would happen,” Tortorella said, referring to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. “I’m anxious to see what happens with the league with this. (There’s) just no respect amongst players. None. It’s sickening.”

“It was gutless and dirty,” he said.

"It's one of the most arrogant organizations in the league," Tortorella said. "They whine about this stuff all the time and look what happens."